Is Trikora The Beginning of Indonesia Colonialism in West Papua?

It is still in our mind, the history of how Indonesia gained its independence through the war. After Japan was defeated in World War 2, Indonesia took advantage of the opportunity to declare its independence before the Dutch regained control.

In late 1950, the Dutch then signed an agreement where the Dutch recognized Indonesia’s independence except for Papua. In the agreement of the handover, Papua will be given within a certain period. But the agreement that was made was then betrayed by the Dutch. It took dozens of years of war before Papua became part of Indonesia.

Why did Papua become a part of Indonesia?

What was imagined by Indonesians at that time was the territory that has the same fate in fighting the Dutch colonialism was the part of Indonesia. Even if, at that time, the Philippines became part of the Dutch colony, it could have been at that time to be a part of Indonesia. At that time the western part of Papua became the Dutch colony so that Indonesia fought for the area to become the part of Indonesia.

While, from the Dutch perspective, Papua was a different area of Indonesia and was its colony, so in the end, it decided to violate the agreements made with Indonesia.

The struggle of Papuan Activists in Trikora

During the negotiation, Frans Kaisiepo, one of the activists of Papua participated in various conferences, such as the Malino conference and Round Table Conference (KMB). Kaisiepo strongly refused when the Dutch wanted him to represent the Netherlands in the Round Tble Conference. Moreover, Kaisiepo wants to change the name of Netherland Nieuwe Guinea to IRIAN (Joining the Anti Netherland Republic of Indonesia ). As a result of his actions, in 1950-1961 Kaisiepo became a political prisoner.

President Soekarno was furious with the Dutch attitude, he finally decided to perform Trikora (three people’s commands). With the help of weapons from the Soviet Union (currently Russia), Trikora was later carried out. Kaisiepo and his colleagues helped the TNI to land in West Irian. Trikora became the largest military operation ever carried out by Indonesia at that time. At that time, Major General Suharto was appointed as commander with the aim of conducting military operations to combine western Papua with Indonesia.

Before the war, the UN then took a role. UN concerns about communist influence in Indonesia, making the United Nations urge the Netherlands to surrender at UN headquarters in New York. Through the supervision of the United Nations, the Papuan people decided to join Indonesia. In 1972, Kaisiepo was appointed as a member of the People’s Consultative Assembly of The Republic of Indonesia, before finally serving as a member of the Supreme Judge of the Supreme Advisory Council from 1973 to 1979.

As a form of appreciation for his services as an Indonesian Hero, the name Frans Kaisiepo later became the name of the Airport in Biak, Papua. In addition, the sigma class corvette war ship owned by the Navy also has its name. Moreover, in 10,000 rupiah, you can also find Frans Kaisiepo’s face.

So is it true that the invader of western Papua changed from the Netherlands to Indonesia? Of course not, if Indonesia colonized western Papua, the indigenous Papuans will not take part in fighting with Indonesia to expel the Dutch.